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Many endotherms have a larger amount of mitochondria per cell than ectotherms. This enables them to generate heat by increasing the rate at which they metabolize fats and sugars . Accordingly, to sustain their higher metabolism, endothermic animals typically require several times as much food as ectothermic animals do, and usually require a ...
Ectotherms typically have lower metabolic rates than endotherms at a given body mass. As a consequence, endotherms generally rely on higher food consumption, and commonly on food of higher energy content. Such requirements may limit the carrying capacity of a given environment for endotherms as compared to its carrying capacity for ectotherms.
Ectotherms and endotherms undergo different evolutionary perspectives where mammals and birds thermoregulate far more precisely than ectotherms. [18] A major benefit of precise thermoregulation is the ability to enhance performance through thermal specialization. [18]
Large ectotherms displaying the same body size as large endotherms have the advantage of a slow metabolic rate, meaning that it takes reptiles longer to digest their food. Consequently gigantothermic ectotherms would not have to eat as often as large endotherms that need to maintain a constant influx of food to meet energy demands.
In biology, thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to maintain its body temperature, and the term "endotherm" refers to an organism that can do so from "within" by using the heat released by its internal bodily functions (vs. an "ectotherm", which relies on external, environmental heat sources) to maintain an adequate temperature. [14]
Ectotherms are the opposite of endotherms when it comes to regulating internal temperatures. In ectotherms, the internal physiological sources of heat are of negligible importance; the biggest factor that enables them to maintain adequate body temperatures is due to environmental influences.
J.S. Alho and colleagues argued in 2011 that, although Allen's rule was originally formulated for endotherms, it can also be applied to ectotherms, which derive body temperature from the environment. In their view, ectotherms with lower surface area-to-volume ratios would heat up and cool down more slowly, and this resistance to temperature ...
There are several ways that they have evolved to solve this issue. For instance, following Bergmann's Rule, endotherms in colder climates tend to be larger than those in warmer climates as a way to conserve internal heat. [3] Other methods include reducing internal temperatures and metabolic rates through daily torpor and hibernation. [4]